God’s Odd Requests

Jesus said to Peter……

“…… go to the lake and throw out your hook, and the first fish that rises up will have a coin in its mouth. It will be the exact amount you need to pay the temple tax for both of us.”
Matthew 17:27 TPT

Lately, we’ve been using a coin toss to decide where to eat. It has created some fun and adventure surrounding a mundane activity. We toss the coin to determine whether to turn left or right. Tails, turn left and heads, turn right. Toss the coin 20 times then eat at the 4th restaurant on the left.

When I read Matthew 17:27, I felt like the instructions to find the money in the mouth of the first fish was about as random and odd as our game to find a restaurant.

My mind wandered (and wondered) …..

• Why would God direct Peter to find a coin in this way?
• For fun?
• Was he bored with the whole business of miracles and found it a mundane activity? (Jesus: Let’s see how far-fetched I can make this one?)
• Did He want to see if they would follow “ANY” instruction he gave?
• What if today, God gave me this type of odd request? Would I feel it any odder than from their time in history?
•  Would I think I heard it wrong?
• Did Peter even question Jesus? Did he cock his head to the side and stare at Jesus for a minute wondering if he actually heard Him correctly?

Or ……

Did Peter b-bop out the door, grab his fishin’ pole and cast without ever thinking how odd this whole scenario was?

My mind obviously wanders into rabbit holes and this was no exception.

Could God be making odd requests which I ignore because they seem … well … odd?

In a way, as a business owner, I kinda want God to throw me a crazy instruction so I can stop analyzing everything for risk and profit and client expectation blah blah blah…..

I want to clearly hear him tell me to stop what I’m doing (especially if it’s something tedious and unrewarding) and go fishin’ for coins to pay my next phone bill. It would certainly be far more fun than trying to figure out what to post on social media!

Am I right???????

Until I get my marching orders to go fishin’, I’d love to hear about the oddest request God has given you and the outcome.

Also, if you try the coin toss to choose your next restaurant, I wanna hear where you landed.

Here’s my prayer for you…..

Father God, we know by your Word that sometimes you choose odd ways for us to get what is needed to run our businesses and life.  Today, I ask for each of my friends reading this to get an odd request from you so they can have just a little extra fun in their day. That in the fun, they learn to trust you just a little more. In following the instructions, they get to see a side of you and your infinite love which they’ve never seen or experienced. God, as we move into 2021, I pray for the businesses of those who are reading this. I pray their efforts from long ago and things they don’t even remember doing begin to harvest abundantly.  I pray that because they’re willing to do things they’ve never done; they will see things they’ve never seen.  I ask all of this in Jesus perfect name, Amen.

Blessings,

Jennifer Edwards
God’s Odd One